A drive plate meshes with a pinion gear securely set on a rotary shaft of a starter motor to start an internal combustion engine.
A conventional process for manufacturing a drive plate is as follows:
A flat bar material is curled, both of its ends are subjected to a flash butt welding, and its interior and exterior surfaces and its both surfaces are cut with a single purpose machine and a lathe to manufacture an annular gear blank. The annular gear blank is subjected to a gear cutting with a hobbing machine then a chamfering to manufacture an annular gear. A plate is pressed on an inner circumference of the annular gear. Electric weldings are performed on ten to twelve portions of the plate, each portion having approximately 15-25 mm to manufacture a drive plate.
According to such a manufacturing process, a series of processes for manufacturing an annular gear from a flat bar comprise a cutting, a gear cutting, a chamfering, and electric welding, which result in a long manufacturing time. Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a process for manufacturing a drive plate, which process eliminates a cutting and a chamfering process to shorten a manufacturing time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for manufacturing a drive plate, which process can reduce frictional resistance between a female die and a workpiece to elongate a useful life of a die.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a process for manufacturing a drive plate, which process can securely connect a plate to an annular gear.